The Learning Demand is Gigantic!

A leadership change at 42 Heilbronn: Moritz Carthaus – formerly Head of Administration at the coding school – has been CEO since the beginning of the year. His predecessor, Thomas Bornheim, is now building the software lab Level 3. The target audience consists of people who already know how to code, as well as companies that want to upskill their employees. A conversation about the future of 42, the XXL demand for IT training, and the Jevons paradox.

Moritz, you have been working at 42 Heilbronn since 2021. What are your goals as the new CEO?

Moritz: 42 Heilbronn has proven that collaborative and project-based learning can work without traditional teaching staff. The next step is to create an even greater impact. By 2030, the first 42 alumni should be holding management positions or founding the next successful startups. Additionally, we want to visibly contribute to alleviating the skills shortage. No company in the region should have to say anymore: ‘We would love to grow and drive innovation, but we lack IT developers.‘

Isn't that a bit ambitious?

Moritz: I don’t think so! At 42 Heilbronn, we teach students everything they need to succeed as coders in the workforce within just one and a half years. They learn solution-oriented work methods, teamwork, and a feedback culture. They learn how to learn and how to work. Tens of thousands of IT positions in Germany remain unfilled. Our goal is to fill up to 5% of these IT positions with 42 students by 2030. To achieve this, we need to increase the visibility of 42. When more and more companies list a completed Core Curriculum at 42 Heilbronn as a desirable qualification in their IT job postings, we will know we are on the right track.

What projects do you want to launch to achieve this?

Moritz: Two things are particularly important to me. First, our learning environment. 42 Heilbronn has grown to hundreds of students over the past four years. That’s fantastic, but it also carries the risk of anonymity. That’s why we are focusing even more on gamification and bringing students together in smaller groups to make learning more personal and intensive. The second point concerns our peer-to-peer learning approach, where students systematically give each other feedback. We want to structure this process even more clearly and improve the quality of feedback.

Thomas, since the beginning of the year, you have been building the software lab Level 3. What is it about?

Thomas: Moritz mentioned earlier that tens of thousands of IT specialists are missing in Germany. This is a structural problem for the economy. At the same time, companies are absolutely dependent on their coders continuously advancing their skills—simply because technologies and applications are evolving at an incredible pace. Over the past years, I have had numerous conversations with business leaders from the region and across Germany. The unanimous opinion: The demand for learning is gigantic, and we need a revolution in IT training! The current formats rarely target skilled programmers, are slow, lack practical relevance, and barely go in-depth. Some companies even release their top employees for up to six months for training, which naturally means they are absent elsewhere. Imagine a programmer at Daimler who has worked on batteries for ten years and now wants to reorient themselves. Right now, there is no proper training available for that. That’s why, under the Arkadia umbrella, we want to offer a learning format with Level 3 that is tailored to the needs of both companies and learning enthusiasts.

How exactly will this work?

Thomas: Level 3 is aimed at people who already have programming experience. We want to provide them with hands-on experience as quickly as possible in the fields of cloud, cybersecurity, and AI through our challenges. Three aspects are important to us.

First: Practical relevance. We invite companies to develop specific tasks for our Level 3 cohorts together with our programmers. For example, programming an LLM and comparing its performance against traditional approaches. This creates transferable knowledge: Task-based work helps develop practical solutions to real-world problems—not just during the program, but beyond.

Second: Peer learning. That means no professors, no teachers. Instead, Level 3 participants acquire knowledge in small coder learning groups of a maximum of five people on-site. Style guides and structured feedback enable this self-organized learning, which focuses on reflection and collaboration rather than rote memorization and solitary work. This method has been proven to be far more effective than traditional learning approaches.

Third: Learning pace. Practical relevance and peer learning contribute to a high learning speed. Most of our programs are designed to last four to six weeks. Unlike the learning approach at 42, this program requires mandatory attendance. This is crucial for coordination and success in teamwork. As we know from other globally operating learning programs, this approach also significantly increases the success rate in completing tasks.

Given the advances in AI, will coders even be needed in the future?

Moritz: Groundbreaking innovations can make certain professions obsolete, that’s true. And it’s also true that AI is making coding much easier. But history shows that when a resource is used more efficiently, its demand increases as well. This effect is known as the Jevons paradox, which describes coal consumption in 18th and 19th century England. Even though steam engines became much more efficient, coal demand significantly increased. The reason: Greater efficiency suddenly opened up new possibilities, such as the rapid expansion of railway transport—including its coal consumption. The same could very well apply to AI: It can automate certain tasks, but at the same time, it will create entirely new applications and business fields that, in turn, require significantly more coders.

Thomas: Exactly. We are currently at a technological threshold that is opening up completely new possibilities. Take sensor technology, for example, where we are witnessing groundbreaking advancements that will impact various areas of programming. Look at the medical sector: Microchip implants can now measure organ values and deliver bio-impulses. The development and programming of these microchips don’t happen out of thin air—they need to be designed and built. However, if you’re asking which specific programming languages and paradigms will be essential in the future… no one can give you a definite answer. But what I do know is this: With the mindset and problem-solving skills taught at 42 Heilbronn and Level 3, you’ll be prepared for any eventuality.

Looking back, Moritz, is there a moment at 42 Heilbronn that particularly impressed you?

Moritz: Definitely, plenty of them. One that comes to mind is a student who joined us as a very reserved person, something you could also see in his posture. Two months later, I saw him standing in front of a whiteboard with 15 people around him, confidently explaining a complex code—upright and fully present. That was no longer the reserved person from day one. Seeing how people can truly develop here is simply amazing. Can you imagine a cooler job?

Thomas, hearing this, do you feel sad about leaving?

Thomas: Absolutely! But I’m all the happier that Moritz is exactly the right person for this role. He brings a business perspective that will open up new directions for 42. And since Level 3 operates in the same building, we’ll still have plenty of opportunities to collaborate in the future.